DTS: The New Sound of Movies

1993. THE year of Steven Spielberg and his Jurassic Park. Dinosaurs seemed to roar from right behind us in the theatre; and at times, the eerie sounds seemed to come from a distant corner outside the walls.

The year that changed the way many looked at Cinema. Sounds redefined the movie experience and have helped to bring the audience back. Sound engineers, working with various formats including DTS and Dolby can take quite a bit of credit for the turn-around.

Riding on the Dinosaur-mania was Digital Theatre Systems (DTS); the technology which transformed the way we heard sound, in a movie theatre.

Three years later, the Oscars came after the technology - DTS was honoured with a scientific and engineering award for 1996 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Many experienced the possibilities of DTS in some 70 mm films - Armageddon, Godzilla, Independence Day, Star Wars, The Lost World, Titanic, Tomorrow Never Dies and Vertigo. The system can be used to provide digital audio track across a wide array and formats such as 70 mm, 35 mm, 16 mm or even 8 mm.

The change in the movie experience came to theatres next to our neighbourhood soon enough. Just over seven years since its launch, 32 of the 65 theatres in Chennai have installed DTS; the worldwide figure stands at 18,416. DTS installations continue to grow at the rate of about 200 units per month, and an average domestic release presented in DTS captures about 2,500 screens. Over the last five years, major motion picture studios and producers have released more than 950 films in the format. ``DTS system brings excellent quality digital sound to the movies. The process sets the standard of quality for cinema by delivering an exact copy of the studio master recordings. Now every moviegoer can hear the sound exactly as the director intended,'' says Mr.Mahesh Mahadevan of Real Image, the company which licences the format and markets playback.

Recently DTS celebrated the 500th theatre in India joining the DTS fold. Top DTS executives, Andrea Nee, vice president and General Manager, DTS Cinema Group and Jim Murray, director, worldwide sales, DTS, were in the city to mark this milestone.

``Over a 100 films have already been released in the DTS format in the country. Though there are other formats for sound too, because of its peculiar features, DTS is the most popular equipment here, as anywhere else in the world,'' says Mr.Jayendra, also of Real Image. ``Also since DTS prints have a conventional stereo optical track as well as the DTS timecode, a single inventory of prints can be used for all theatres. The process itself makes digital sound a practical release for all movies,'' he adds.

A newer, more advanced version of DTS has also emerged now. DTS- 6AD delivers a complete solution or digital and analog sound playback in theatre, by combining the functions of a cinema processor, 6-track digital processor and booth monitor into a single 4-unit-high package system. Two theatres in the country have installed the system already - Mappillai Vinayagar Theatre in Madurai and Sampige Theatre, Bangalore.

(By R. K. Radhakrishnan)

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Entertainment
Next     : Jazzed up Ragas enthrall